Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7: Video look at a speedy slate

When I held the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 at last month’s Consumer Electronics Show, I was hooked. After all, I’ve been using a Galaxy Tab daily for 14 months. The new Tab is slimmer, has a vastly improved display, more RAM and a 1.4 GHz dual-core processor. This combination led me to order a 16 GB Wi-Fi model, and I’ve been enjoying it ever since it arrived. Here’s a first look at the 7.89 millimeter thin device that easily runs all day on a single charge.

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While I’m impressed by most of the hardware, Samsung skimped a little on the cameras. They’re adequate for basic shots or video and video chatting, but won’t replace a modern smartphone. The software is where I find the new Galaxy Tab 7.7 lacking. Oh, it’s obviously usable, or I wouldn’t be using it as my daily device.

But Android 3.2, or Honeycomb, still doesn’t impress me. I prefer Android 4.0 on phones and tablets, so I’m looking forward to the update that Samsung has promised. In the meantime, Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface makes up for some of Honeycomb’s issues. And my hope is that third-party developers will update their apps to take advantage of the high-resolution, but relatively small, tablet display; often icons and text are small because of this. Even with these challenges, this is the fastest small tablet I’ve used yet for browsing, and it’s great for watching video, playing games and social networking.